PEOPLE

Meyers named to replace Fallon as ‘Late Night’ host

5/14/2013

BLADE NEWS SERVICES

Seth Meyers, right, is moving from his 'Weekend Update' desk to his own late night show on NBC. He will replace Jimmy Fallon, left, at the 12:35 a.m. 'Late Night' show as Fallon moves up an hour as Jay Leno's replacement on the 'Tonight' show.

Seth Meyers is moving from his Weekend Update desk to his own late-night show on NBC.

The network said Sunday that the 12-year Saturday Night Live cast member will replace Jimmy Fallon at the 12:35 a.m. Late Night show next year. Fallon is moving up an hour as Jay Leno’s replacement on the Tonight show.

Meyers was considered the lead candidate for the Late Night job ever since Fallon’s promotion was announced. The announcement solidifies Lorne Michaels as the comedy kingmaker at NBC. He’ll be the executive in charge of Late Night, Tonight, and Saturday Night Live, which will all originate from New York’s Rockefeller Center.

Meyers, 39, has been the head writer at Saturday Night Live for eight seasons. He’s in his seventh year as Weekend Update host, to which he devotes all of his on-air time now.

And like Fallon before him, Meyers is making the move from Weekend Update to Late Night.

The late-night show began with David Letterman in 1982, and its other hosts have been Conan O’Brien and Fallon.

Meyers is a Northwestern University graduate and began his comedy career in Chicago. His chief television competition will be Craig Ferguson on CBS and Nightline on ABC.

Walters to retire

Trailblazing broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, known for her interviews with world leaders and celebrities and the first woman to co-anchor a U.S. evening news program, said on Monday she will retire in the summer of 2014.

With tears in her eyes, Walters, 83, announced her upcoming resignation on The View, the all-woman show she created in 1997.

“I have been on television for over 50 years,” she said as her co-hosts watched. “In the summer of 2014 I plan to retire from appearing on television.”

Walters described her career as amazing, fascinating, and sometimes bumpy. She said she is healthy and it was her decision to retire.

“This is what I want to do,” she said as the audience applauded. “I’ve had an amazing career.”

Until her retirement she will anchor and report for ABC and continue to work on The View.

Walters will also host a 20 Years of the 10 Most Fascinating People special in December, an Oscars special, and a May career retrospective.

Scary

Grammy-winning musician Chris Brown’s neighbors are unhappy with what some are calling frightening art he’s chosen to have painted along the curb of his Hollywood Hills home.

A neighborhood group said the grimacing, sharp-toothed, red-eyed goblins painted on a retaining wall have been scaring children, and are an eyesore to boot, according to the Los Angeles Times.

L.A. city code officials responded to complaints about the monster art and cited the “Run It!” singer $376 for unpermitted and excessive signage. Under city ordinances, it’s illegal to create murals on most private properties. Brown has been ordered to remove the goblin paintings within 30 days, but his attorney Mark Geragos said the musician is not backing down.

Short story

“Although I’ve never read a book all the way through, I’m sure excited to write one.”

This is how Martin Short, in a statement from his publisher, announced Sunday that he had struck a deal to write his first book, a memoir of his life and enduring career in show business.

Harper, the imprint of HarperCollins that published an autobiography of Amanda Knox last month, will release the book in fall, 2014.

Short, a comedian and actor who created some of his most famous characters on SCTV and Saturday Night Live, will write about those years, as well as his time working on films like The Three Amigos. He will also cover his 30-year marriage to Nancy, who died in 2010, and his longtime friendships with fellow Hollywood stars.

A title is forthcoming, Short added: “I haven’t named my book yet, but I’m toying with the title ‘If I’d Saved, I Wouldn’t Be Writing This.’”

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